Improvement in caloric-engines



.A UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

I' HENRY MESSEa'oF ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CALORlG-ENGINES.,

Specification form-ing part of Letters Patent No. 40,178, dated October 6, i863.

To alwhom it my concern:

Beit known that I, .HENRY MESSER, of.

furnace into the engine-cylinder to actuate the pistonA therein; andthe invention con-.

siste, rst, in the introduction ot steam into the furnace, so that it will be `decomposed by the heat thereof into'it's constitueutgases, and will in this gaseous form increase the im pellingA medium by mingling with its components and passing with them into'andthen out of the cylinder; and, second, in controlling thespeedof theengine by causing its regulator or governor to actuate a valve to. adjust the suppl-y of steam to the require- A ments of the work to be performed by the,

engine, admitting steam freelyv when the amount of work is large, and the engine tends to run below speed, and shutting the steam off more or less, as required, when the work is light andthe engine tends to run abovespeed,

and in this latter case storing steam up in the boiler -to a pressure limited by the gage of the safety-valve, to be .used as areserye force Vwhen more work is put upon the engine. In the rst part of my invention the result upon the engine of the introduction of steam in said manner differs wide] y from the introduction of water into the furnace. In the finely-divided Y or minute atomic condition of steam when subjected to a sulicient degree of heat, it is at once decomposed into its constituent gases,

which do notagain in the engine combine to form steam or water. Water introduced into the furnace has first to be converted into steam therein before it can be decomposed,

, and in this form of steam much of it passes into theengiue,wllere it condenses, and, mingling withsome of the products of combustion, a highlycorrosive fluid is formed, which 1s extremely destructive to the material of the engine.

When steam is introduced according to my invention, the engine should be started and worked' long enough to establish a good degree 4of combustion in the furnace, so that the heat thereof will decompose.l the steam when admitted; and before the working of the engine is stopped the steam should be shut olf, so that as the lire wanes nosteam shall pass into the engine in an undecomposed state, or

in the form of condensable'vapor. This and other-.necessary regulation ofthe amount of -steam to be supplied to the furnace, and the times at which it is to be supplied, may be eected by the use of suitable valves,which may vbe operated by hand or automatically bythe regulator of the engine, or in part by both. rIhe steam which is admitted into4 the furnace may be generated in' any of thesi/ellknown ways.

The accompanying drawing, shows in plan so much of a hot-airengineand :steam-boiler' as is needed for a full understanding of my invention.

arepresents the cylinder of a caloric-em:

gine; b, a pipe through which the exhaust. from the engine can pass into the boiler c; lor

steam may be generated by a fire kindled under the, boiler, which is represented as one of the plain verticalliretube type. f

d is the pipe bywhich steam generated'in v the boiler is conducted to the furnace, either" above or below the grat-es and fuel, or. both above and below them; but Whether above or below the fuel the steam must be introduced in immediate juxtaposition thereto iu order to insure its desired decomposition, and to prevent the passage ofany of it into'the engine in theform of condensable vapor. It' it b e preferable to have the requisite quantity of steam enter the furnace in ne jets or streams, then the apertures connecting the steam-pipe and furnace must be mogliled accordingly The furnace is shown in dotted lines in the drawing, and a throttle-valve is shown as.

located in piped, to .which valve any suitable Well-known form of regulator may be connected, to regulate automatically4 the speed of the engine by controlling the amount of steam which passes into the furnace; Another suitable valve may be located in pipe dto shut oli` 'the steam from the furnacepbefore stopping the engine, and to keep it shut oli` therefrom untila'snituble time after the engine is started. It is obvious, of course, that before steam can be made to enter` the furnace it 'musiJ be generated to a pressure greater than thatin the furnace; I claim- 1. The introduction ot'vstemn into the furnace of a hot-air engine-in which pressure is maintained, when the steam is entered in immediate juxtpositionwith the incandescent fuel for the purpose 0f Wholly decomposing it into its constituent gases and mingling them with the compressed heated air and gaseous products of combustion within the furnace.

2. Regulating the speed. of hot an' engines 'by automatically controlling the amount of steam admit-ted into the furnace Wit-h a valve in the steam-pipe connected with vthe furnace,

when said valve is actuated by the engineregulator.

H. MESSER. Witnesses:

J. B. CROSBY, EDW. H. SEARS. 

